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The takeaway here is not “fuck fire trucks” (nor is it “wtf those crazy !fuckcars people are anti-fire-truck now?!”). The takeaway is that fire trucks often don’t have to be as large as they are.
Why should fire departments get a veto over the urban planners when designing the streets, but the urban planners not get a say when the fire department is choosing which trucks to buy?
I watched the first minute, and it seems the problem is partially that fire departments can dictate standards that make them comfortable instead of what is actually necessary.
IMO a lot of it is because:
- fire department procurement seems unrelated enough that most urbanists aren’t paying attention to it,
- fire departments choose the biggest trucks they can because of course they do, and
- once the trucks are already bought, insisting the roads accommodate them is a fait accompli.
Yes, but even given that, the fire department is asking for some pretty outrageous accomodations in their clearances on straights. The first example gave them 3 inches of clearance on either side, but they wanted something close to 2 feet (forget the details).
I think another problem is that people expect cars to just always park wherever the fuck they want regardless of the law, which is a separate problem.
If you’ve ever had the “pleasure” of working with emergency services you’ll know that the people attracted to that kind of work have a type…
Doesn’t mean we should let them bully the city.
Not just bikes did a video in this, showing how stupidly big and dangerous American fire trucks are.
Another way to look at it:
It’s a political competition between protecting property and protecting people likely to be renting.
That is a really fucking weird spin on it, in multiple ways.
First of all, you think renters don’t use sidewalks or bike lanes?
Second, you think wide, highway-like streets are good for property owners?
Third, you don’t think single-family houses can be rented or that housing units in high-rises (requiring large ladder trucks to access) can be owned?
I, for one, see no particular reason why owners’ and renters’ interests wouldn’t be aligned on this issue.